Peak Oil Task Force Report - City of Bloomington - State of Indiana

• all City traffic signals have been retrofitted with light‐emitting diode (LED)
technology;
• the City recently passed a Green Building Ordinance calling for all occupiable City
structures to be brought up to LEED Silver standards, provided they meet a payback
test;
• Low‐flow, sensored faucets and fixtures have been installed at most occupied City
facilities;
• The City has reduced its mowing frequency from once every 7‐10 days to twice per
month and is experimenting with “no‐grow” or “low‐mow” grasses to reduce
mowing. In addition, a number of naturalized lawn projects have been implemented
on City property;
• The City’s Environmental Commission and Sustainability Commission work very
hard to foster policies that nurture environmental, social, and economic health and
have issued critical reports on the city’s greenhouse gas emissions, environmental
quality indicators, sustainability indicators and greenspace; 50
• The City has been named Tree City USA for 24 consecutive years. The City nurtures
more than 18,000 trees in the urban forest and thousands more in the City's parks.
These are laudable efforts. However, to mitigate the effects of peak oil, we need to do far
more. Responding to peak oil, climate change, and energy uncertainty requires an across‐
the‐board dedicated shift to reduced energy consumption and greater local production.
In thinking through what the advent of peak oil means for the operation of government, it
is important to keep in mind that the Task Force is not anticipating reduced or somehow
compromised City services. To the contrary, the Task Force urges us to think through ways
the City will fulfill its role of protecting community well‐being by being smart and creative
about the ways we use and produce energy.
50 City of Bloomington Environmental Commission & City of Bloomington Commission on Sustainability,
Greenhouse Gas Inventory for the City of Bloomington, Indiana: Footprint, Projections, and Recommendations
(May 2009) https://bloomington.in.gov/media/media/application/pdf/5047.pdf; City of Bloomington
Environmental Commission 2006 Bloomington Environmental Quality Indicator (BEQI) Report,
http://bloomington.in.gov/beqi/; Bloomington Commission on Sustainability, Bloomington Sustainability
Assessment Report (2008) http://bloomington.in.gov/media/media/application/pdf/4660.pdf; City of
Bloomington Environmental Commission, Greenspace Trends in Bloomington, Indiana 1993­2007,
http://bloomington.in.gov/egov/docs/1196711026_93260.pdf
Report of the Bloomington Peak Oil Task Force
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